Cyprus Rally: Chris Atkinson preview

ATKINSON PREPARING FOR CYPRUS HEAT
Australian Chris Atkinson will continue his campaign in the
FIA World Rally Championship when he competes in Rally Cyprus
with the Subaru World Rally Team this weekend.
Boyd by the experience he gained from...

ATKINSON PREPARING FOR CYPRUS HEAT

Australian Chris Atkinson will continue his campaign in the
FIA World Rally Championship when he competes in Rally Cyprus
with the Subaru World Rally Team this weekend.

Boyd by the experience he gained from the recent Rally Italia
the young Australian believes that fitness and a good rhythm
are the two main ingredients to a strong showing on the rough
and tough roads he and co-driver Glenn Macneall will be faced
with this weekend.

With the fitness being a main focus for the event the pair
joined with team-mate Petter Solberg and his co-driver Phil
Mills, SWRT bosses David Lapworth and Paul Howarth, fitness
trainer John Mills and team paramedic John Jones for a
training and management camp over the past four days in
Cyprus.

Detailed below is information on the training camp taken from
a recent interview with John Mills courtesy of the Subaru
World Rally Team:

Who's going to the camp and when will it be?

It's going to run from Saturday 7 May until Monday 9 May
inclusive, in Cyprus. Paul Howarth, David Lapworth, Petter
and Phil, Chris and Glenn, Denis, Phil's personal trainer
David Gethin, John Jones (the team's paramedic) and I will be
attending.

What's the purpose of the camp?

The main thing is to get everyone used to working in the heat
ahead of the next three hot gravel events. The drivers and
co-drivers are already well-prepared physically to cope with
the conditions, so the camp's not about trying to make them
fitter in a couple of days. It's about getting them used to
working in an extreme environment and introducing strategies
to help them compete in high temperatures. The next three
events have a high rate of attrition and often present
specific problems, so we'll be preparing them for those. We
want to make sure that everyone is able to reach the correct
outcome when in a pressurised situation.

How will you be doing that?

First, we'll hold a series of physical tasks to get everyone
working outside and acclimatised to the heat. We'll then
gradually introduce a number of mental challenges, based on
possible scenarios that may occur during the next three
rallies, to improve their skills and teamwork.

What will you be looking for in each driver / management
member?

The tasks will enable us to analyse the dynamics of each
group and study the relationships between driver and
co-driver and management-and-crew. We'll be able to see who
works well together and if there are any areas we need to
develop. From the participants' point of view, the things
they'll be gaining are acclimatisation to the heat, an
ability to formulate coping strategies and an understanding
of why they're so important

What activities will you be organising?

Mountain biking, which will be interspersed with mental
tasks, an orienteering course that will include a series of
challenges designed to get everyone thinking and working
together. The third day will include a driver review meeting
where we'll assess goals set at the beginning of the year and
make sure that they're still in line to be achieved.

How hot are you expecting it to be in Cyprus?

We're expecting temperatures of around 35C by midday, but
inside a car it can feel much hotter, stickier and more
uncomfortable. Drivers need to be very fit and mentally alert
to perform in such extreme conditions for three days and
that's what we're going to Cyprus to achieve.

This weekend marks three months since Atkinson first drove a
world rally spec Subaru in competition.

Throughout his first four events at the highest level of
rallying in the world Atkinson's speed has been impressive
winning three stages (2 in New Zealand, 1 in Italy). He has
recorded 45 stage times inside the top ten from the 71 stages
that have been conducted in this year's World Rally
Championship.

This will be Atkinson's first experience of a classic hot
event and so his main goal from the team is to finish the
rally and build his speed slowly and progressively. Based on
the narrow and twisty roads of the Trodos Mountains near
Limassol this weekend's event is widely regarded as the
slowest, hottest and roughest event of the year.

"I've been watching video footage of last year's route to
familiarise myself with the conditions and am looking to gain
as much experience as possible," said Atkinson.

"It's going to be very rough and I've heard that the stages
haven't been repaired from last year, so they're likely to
become rutted straight away. With average speeds below 60kph
on some stages, it's important to quickly get into a good
driving rhythm and avoid losing a lot of time through the
long stages.

"A lot of cars are going to have trouble due to the tough
conditions and dnf so we will try to stay clear running at
that pace anyone at the front can make a mistake or get
caught out by a rock that is unexpected so you never know
what is going to happen. Hopefully we can have a clean run
and get some good points."

Rally Cyprus is the sixth of 16 rounds to be contested in
Championship. It will be contested across 18 stages over the
three days of competition for a total competitive distance of
326.68 kilometres. It is the same route that was used in last
year's event won by Marcus Gronholm ahead of Sebastien Loeb
and Markko Martin.

Following his recent victory in Rally Italia Sebastien Loeb
leads the FIA World Drivers Championship on 35 points, a mere
one point ahead of Solberg. Markko Martin is a further six
points in arrears in third place followed by Marcus Gronholm
(26) and Toni Gardemeister (25).